Bill is a versatile and accomplished professional with over 40 years’ experience in pharmaceuticals, law, communication, science and research. As a qualified UK and European Patent Attorney, he has headed up global teams with lawyers from over 40 different countries, including the US and China. He has also worked in roles covering coaching, mentoring and recruitment and has run his own company.

Bill was educated at the University of Oxford where he studied Chemistry. He left with a doctorate and joined Beecham Pharmaceuticals as a researcher in the field of heart disease, becoming increasingly interested in biotechnology and gene manipulation.

After several years Bill switched careers and studied to become a patent lawyer, qualifying as a UK and European Patent Attorney. Thereafter Bill took on increasingly senior roles with SmithKline Beecham and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), managing a growing team of patent attorneys, first in vaccine research coming out of Belgium, and then overseeing the whole European team. He eventually rose to the position of interim Head of the Global Patent Department with a large team of 150 lawyers and support staff.

Bill finished his 40-year career with the company as Head of Collaboration and Communication for the Legal Department reporting to the US-based General Counsel. This involved liaising with some 650 legal staff in over 40 countries to promote a ‘one legal’ ethos and a common global philosophy. In his career Bill has spent a considerable time working in the US and has collaborated with company lawyers and researchers based in Philadelphia and North Carolina and with external legal counsel based in New York and Washington DC.

Bill served as a member of the senior GSK legal management team, setting parameters for recruitment of legal staff and for diversity, equity and inclusion. Bill is also a Chartered Chemist and has taught many times at the Royal Society of Chemistry Medicinal Chemistry School in the UK. He is the author of several publications on patent law and chemistry and has spoken at international conferences in Europe and China.

More recently, Bill has been involved with communication and language skills, set up his own company, and obtained a qualification in teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, before joining Mandarin Consulting. Bill’s varied corporate experience of scientific research, law and management, along with his valuable insights and expertise, will prove a real asset to candidates wishing to pursue careers in any field.